1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates generally to machines for cutting compressed bales of fibrous material, and more particularly, to a machine for cutting hay bales down to pieces of convenient size for feeding and fodder mixing operations.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Modern hay baling machines create very large, tightly compressed bales. For livestock feeding the large bales are often broken down to manageable pieces by hand. Smaller pieces are also needed for introducing hay to fodder mixers, machines that, usually in a rotating drum, mix hay with feed grain and other dietary material to produce fodder.
Breaking down large compacted bales manually is difficult, time consuming work. Present machines known to perform the cutting down task include the inventor's DEVICE FOR CUTTING DOWN PRESSED COARSE FIBRE BALES SUCH AS HAY BALES, Netherlands Patent Application Number T-11. The machine of that invention is expensive to build and difficult to operate compared to the present invention. It is not easily made into a portable unit, often a desirable configuration of such a machine. An earlier manual device, U.S. Pat. No. 744,328 utilized a pivoted knife cutter for loose hay or straw but did not address compressed bales. Later devices address bale cutting with various arrays of reciprocating or rotary power driven blades, often serrated, toothed or composite, that require complex chain, belt or gear drive systems. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,385,336, 4,142,686, 4,227,654 and 5,025,992. None of these devices is as simple, efficient and versatile as the present invention.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a reliable, economical machine for cutting fiber bales down to relatively small pieces.
It is another object to provide such a machine in an easily operated and portable configuration.
Yet another object is to provide such a machine that utilizes hydraulic power readily available from a common agricultural tractor.
Another object is to provide a bale cutting machine that provides for processing of both cylindrical (commonly called round) and rectangular (commonly called square) hay bales.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a bale cutting machine that utilizes a single, replaceable knife blade for cutting bales.